Deep breath....there goes my hair

I think few of us have not cried when this happens. The first day I was okay but after washing and combing and seeing how much was hanging below my cur line. ..which meant it was still falling made me cry. I contacted my sister and my hairdresser came over that evening and cut it off for me...well clipped it. No more tears then. It was done and I felt I had the control back. Plus my poor itchy scalp couldcould then be massaged with  cream. Now my distress is over my rapidly thinning eyebrows. And yes...it is not forever. It's  a tough gig we face.take care. Kath x

I too have about 4 inches on top of my head right now... funny we must have similar styles...

I cut mine 4 days after my surgery in preparation for chemo... Funny how cutting it 'that short' kind of meant I was 'cutting it short'. Well tomorrow we are going really short...

I just hope I remember to take a beanie with me and do not end up getting sunburnt on the way to the car. 

To be honest I just find it really weird that now I have to start worrying about apply sunscreen to my head ??

Mishie, I reckon we just need to try to look at it as another step closer to getting healthy. We are getting rid of cancer so even if the hair is gone so what ... on the other end we get to have new hair (and by thebsound of what everyone is saying it will be different so maybe worth looking at it as a new adventure

You hair WILL grow back. Do not worry - and at least you will know.it is there to stay and in a healthy body. And until then we can have fun with scarves and accessories

Jel.

Hi Mishie,

Strange, isn't it, when you can hear and read something over and over, but it only becomes real when it happens to you. I have just finished AC chemo and will start Taxol chemo on Wednesday, and was told that my hair would fall out 2 weeks after the first round, and that I would cry. It did, but I didn't,  just because I am ornery like that. 98% of mine fell out within 3 days, the remaining 2% has strangely hung in there, just enough so that when I am out in the wind I can tell which direction it is blowing!

I think the real issue for me was that now I look like a cancer sufferer, and that can be confronting both for me and my family, and takes away some of the choice I had previously about who to tell (I didn't feel comfortable in a wig).

I have tried to actually remember what it felt like to pull my own hair out, what it felt like sitting in the garage clippering my remaining hair off to a number 4, what it feels like to see the lumps and bumps on my head that haven't seen the light of day since I was 1 year old, and even what it feels like to be the only one in the office wearing a beanie. Why would I want to actually remember these uncomfortable things? Because I hope, want, believe, that this will never happen to me again, and I will never have to feel these things EVER AGAIN. And I hope the same for you.

Keep fighting

Jane

Sigh, I missed saying INCHES. My hair is 4 inches long at the top right now.

Thanks for your kind words Jel, it seems I'm only 5 days ahead of you from that first treatment. I think the situation with TC is the same, definite hair loss. I think perhaps you're wise to have the hair shorn as short as possible before it starts to fall. I had mine trimmed the shortest I've ever had it but still it's about 4 long at the top. It's just not short enough. This would be so much easier to stomach if it wasn't coming off in wads in my hands tangling round my fingers in the shower, it's a horrible horrible feeling.

I'm going to try to get into the wig shop tomorrow, the kind ladies there offered to shear mine to stubble and fit my wig properly when I'm ready. I think I'm ready.

I'm sorry for both of us dealing with this, but it does help to have support here!

Wow, SC, you've been through a lot of treatments. I'm so glad to hear your hair came back. Everytime I see that it makes me feel like there's better chance for MINE to come back, too.

I do have a wig, a couple of hats and a few scarves that might work. The ladies at the wig shop in my area are absolute gems, they've asked me to come back in for a fitting and a very short trim when the time comes. I have to go out tomorrow to the GP, I think I'll stop by there afterwards.

Thanks for your support, it really helps. I think you're right about the lack of control problem. It also raises a lot of insecurities, and not just to do with appearance.

Oh Mishie... You are not being over sensitive...  i do feel for you and truly understand you...
Seeing your hair out of the head would shake every single one of us....

I know it would completely freak me out so much so that tomorrow (day 9 post my 1st AC Chemo) I have booked myself at the hairdressers as soon as he opens so he can shear me... I have been told there is no way of saving one's hair through AC and it would be gone between 3 to 4 weeks post 1st treatment but as some ladies were saying it had started t go towards the end of 2nd week I need it all gone so I can get past the hair loss things now (and pretend that I have some control over it....)

I know it is all scary now and it honestly makes sense to be apprehensive and worried - I am with you there....

Hugs
Jel.

hi Mishie,

I am 3 years since treatment nearly. I took control so the BC was in charge I shaved my head when I started to get the weird sensation on my head and hair began to come away...  I had TAC then AC then taxol then CFM then radiation. 

My hair began growing back curly to begin with. I have now got a wave in my hair something I never had before.  My hair is reasonably thick again and I wanted to assure you that we all fear our hair not coming back again after chemo. 

Do you have a wig organised ? Some local oncology units or breast care nurses have information of wig Libraries that hire wigs to those going through chemo.  I didn't want a wig I chose scarves and hats. We are all different about what works for each of us.  

I believe the distress is our lack of control when our hair is falling out. 

Take a deep breath and remember we are hear to listen and happy to allow you to vent, cry laugh your way through this harsh journey we dont ask to be on. 

Soldier Crab

Thanks for sharing. I think I did something silly, was trying to figure out what kind of chemo you had and accidentally hit a button and recommended some random post of yours. Blushing :) I'm really glad your hair grew back! One of my close friends who was on the same treatment I'm on, TC, said hers never really came back, which has me worried. Apparently there's some drama over the T part of TC causing permanent hair loss for some people.

If you see this, can I please ask which treatment you were on? I'm curious what the percentages are for hair recovery!

Bloody anxiety is worse than the treatments sometimes.

Morning losing your hair is such a visual thing. I still remember when mine started to fall out, my husband was picking it off my shoulders. I had organised my wig before I started chemo so that the decision was made early.. I decided to wash it one more time, my hair was coming out in clumps in my hands. I stood in the shower and cried. My husband came with me, I watched her take my hair and cried some more, the hairdresser then fitted my wig and cut it in a style I liked. For me the hardest part was it coming out in clumps, cutting it off and looking at myself for the first time, strangely I got used to no hair quickly,I had other things to be worried about.. My hair has grown back, very curly at first but has settled now. Get yourself some nice hats or scarves.

It is not forever time does help, good luck with the rest of your treatment